On Friday President Barack Obama gave his first press conference in three months where he addressed the controversy surrounding his administration’s involvement in spying on all Americans. During the press conference he made a number of questionable statements, not the least of which was a claim that no abuses occurred in the program. On the same day, a white paper was released that stated the opposite.

Since the telephony metadata collection program under Section 215 was initiated, there have been a number of significant compliance and implementation issues that were discovered as a result of DOJ and ODNI reviews and internal NSA oversight. In accordance with the Court’s rules, upon discovery, these violations were reported to the FISC, which ordered appropriate remedial action. The incidents, and the Court’s responses, were also reported to the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in great detail.

Obama also made the claim that Congress was fully informed and that the program has been properly overseen – a claim contradicted by lawmakers who spoke with the Washington Post.

The Obama administration points to checks and balances from Congress as a key rationale for supporting bulk collection of Americans’ telephone communications data, but several lawmakers responsible for overseeing the program in recent years say that they felt limited in their ability to challenge its scope and legality…

“In terms of the oversight function, I feel inadequate most of the time,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and an NSA critic. Bulk surveillance “certainly was approved by Congress. Was it approved by a fully knowing Congress? That is not the case.”

The most difficult statement to accept from Obama, one that even he backed away from later in the press conference, was that he was already making the reforms before Edward Snowden highlighted problems with the program. In essence, Snowden was jumping the gun on an ongoing process. That doesn’t even pass the laugh test.

Later, as reporters pushed back Obama retreated and conceded that Snowden “triggered” some policy discussion, but that he had issued a historic order protecting intelligence agency whistleblowers – despite the overwhelming evidence that the Obama Administration has declared war on whistleblowers.

Also, Obama essentially acknowledged that he has lost the communications war on the NSA spying program and was forced to hold the pre-vacation press conference to stop the bleeding and to offer reforms. In short, Edward Snowden won.

The most difficult statement to accpet from Obama, one that even he backed away from later in the press conference, was that the president was already making the reforms before Edward Snowden highlighted the problems with the program. In essence, Snowden was jumping the gun on an on-going process. That doesn’t even pass the laugh test.

Actually I think the statement is true, but misleading. First off anythnig large thing is constantly being tweaked. Secondly just because something is ‘reformed,’ it isn’t synonymous with better, though Obama is trying to conflate the act of change itself with automatically being an improvement…I think he has ‘reformed’ things, just not for the better. For ‘reform’ I think Obama is looking for more data to acquire and along with that more groups to hand it out to, which all this is reform, but I wouldn’t consider it better. I’m wondering what all Apple is going to start handing over in light of the White House personnally intervening in the Samsung patent dispute.

THE PRESIDENT: Keep in mind that our decision to not participate in the summit was not simply around Mr. Snowden. It had to do with the fact that, frankly, on a whole range of issues where we think we can make some progress, Russia has not moved. And so we don’t consider that strictly punitive.

Every “reform” I can think of since at least the Carter administration has been, IMO, to the detriment of the 99%. I did not notice that specifically until Obama started talking about “entitlement reform.”

Clinton talked about “welfare reform,” too, then ended up announcing he had welfare as we know it.

True, but, no matter who cancelled it, there was no guaranty that Syrians would stop dying once Putin and Obama met.

Besides, Obama specifically said that cancellation was not due to Snowden. And, if it were, whatever blood comes from cancellation, if any, is on the hands of the childish canceller, not on Snowden’s. The US has granted asylum to many Russians.

It can be fun to parse a transparently false statement like that to see how (or whether) its maker actually believes it to be true.

It’s classic NewSpeak.

Opposite World.

“No spying on Americans,” in the sense that there isn’t a real, live spook following every single American around every single minute of every day. “No spying on Americans” in the sense that the spying that does take place is only “incidental,” not intentional — except of course, if there’s a warrant, in which case the gloves come off and a real-live spook is assigned to dog your pathetic ass, and what will be will be, capice?

“No spying on Americans,” unless you aren’t a Real American (an ever-changing status definition), in which case, the gloves come off and a real-live spook is assigned to dog your pathetic ass until he/she acquires enough evidence to hang you or drone you or take you out in a more nuanced manner.

Etc.

But then cognitive dissonance is a deliberate tactic used to inspire, indeed compel, compliance and submission.

Yes, DS, Snowden “won”, and may, possibly, have enlisted the support of “the people” … for what he had the courage to do.

Let us all remember, however, that Barack Obama is a very sore loser AND a pusillanimous fabulist.

As well, we must all consider that the “spy” agencies do not intend to lose either their budgets or the unchecked power to do whatever they damned well please … from torture, to murder, to cynically manipulating with now “legal”, by Congressional “consent”, propaganda … a public battered with economic and societal stress, deliberately frightened by a political class which has abandoned that public to the tender mercies of an “end-game” capitalist system presiding over a empire upon which the Sun will not much longer shine.

What exactly is your line of thinking, eCAHNomics? I thought you were of the school that says Snowden was part of a limited hangout, which I formulate as an element of the eleventydimensional game of chess on the part of the ptb, if not Obama himself.

The chessboard does seem to be tipping, and the pieces sliding every whichaway, if that theory is still being proposed.

While Snowden may have knocked a few pieces off Obomba’s chessboard, I can’t think he’s won the game, even while not knowing what he hoped to change in the long run. If he wanted far more than ‘a discussion, debate’, I’m not sure we’ve come along all that far in that, even.

But if he’d hoped to cause an unwind to the security state twined with a police state in this country, that’s a long way off from this round, imo. And that’s where we need to be headed.

I think, like Manning, Snowden sought to wake up the American people to abuses that were being committed without their knowledge. This is what whistleblowers do.

It seems as though the goalposts are being moved so that it’s not enough to be a whistle- blower anymore if your revelations don’t single0handedly effect permanent change in their own right. Quite a tall order I would say.

Obama is dancing as fast as he can with the shit sandwich he has been given by the .1%ers that run him. He was approved to be the next President by those people not us and it is their agenda and their security and freedom he is sworn to protect and he was chosen because like most of the uber wealthy he fits the definition below. This mental condition is now so common it has been taken out of the DSM. We can never have a functioning Democracy with people like him in positions of power.

Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they’re superior to others and have little regard for other people’s feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism.

Concerning the press conference: did anyone notice that none of the shills for the fawning corporate media asked a question about the NSA? The closest one to getting near the NSA story was Chuck Turd’s question concerning what the President thought of Snowden. They missed an opportunity to ask any questions concerning O’s rather vague recommendations about the NSA and FISC and, why the President was speaking about it now. Looks like Snowden won the day!

It was in aid of the fact that his detractors often criticized him for saying in his first interview that he’d hoped for a ‘discussion’ or a ‘debate’ (can’t remember which), and that he still wanted to see ‘business’ done as usual. That seems to have gone along with his having sent money to a Libertarian candidate. I don’t know what he really has come to hope for as a ‘win’, but I do know what I hope.

That was all. At this point I’d say he’s certainly had an effect, much of that being throughout the world, and especially in the EU and global south, and certainly caused us to see Obomba’s true colors, geopolitical dreams and demons, as well as his ham-fisted treatment of dissidents, socialists, and the Rule of Law.

Thanks, newcarguy. One of the biggest problems the 99% have is that no one in either of the two largest political parties represents them on the federal level, not any of the the Democrats and not any of the Republicans.

Anyone who is under the misapprehension that things will get better under either of these parties is going to be very disappointed.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master-that’s all.”

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. “They’ve a temper some of them- particularly verbs: they’re the proudest- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!”

I thought for a while that Snowden must really have something on Obama. Now I know that Obama is just trying to scare the other whistleblowers. He really is nuts! GW and him should share a padded room.

Anyone who thinks that a US President has significant influence over the National Security State is naive.

Lemme get this straight — Edward Snowden was a fast-rising CIA employee who quit the Agency and went to work for a firm owned by the Carlyle Group, then went rogue and dished NSA shit 95% of which has been known for almost a decade to those of us paying attention.

ECHELON, bitchez!

The NSA as an institution has obviously stepped on some very tender toes (see Nixon, Richard; and Kennedy, John F.)

We all know I am not the analytical one here. BUT, I suspect there is lots of paranoia to go around D.C. Hell, I never did anything, but, I suspect that some things even I have said or written could be taken out of context.

I thought (and still think) it’s direct address, Clinton communicating to hush jealous Monica, verbally and with a coded necktie choice, telling her that he didn’t have sex with the woman who Linda Tripp described to Monica (and everyone) as being unkempt and distraught after coming out of an office where Clinton allegedly hand-mandled her.

It seems that eCAHN has finally caught a fellow traveler with her trawling for believers in the, Snowden is an evil trickster, meme.

The inverted logic of her claim that a greater number of people will now die in Syria because of the cancelled summit is beyond proof but loaded with innuendo.

Russia and China are the only world powers who have blocked the West from an all out assault on Syria and the one thing we are still skilled at doing is killing large numbers of people.

The number of people reported killed in Syria so far may be accurate and they may not be since we have no way of verifying these numbers. We do know that the numbers reported, in the western media, about the demonstrations in Egypt against Morsi were pure fabrications and seem to have been inflated by about a factor of ten.

Seriously, folks. What’s lurking behind this shit storm of deceit, is the Sunstein-ian notion that people are too stupid to come to rational conclusions based on facts. It follows that people have to be lied to constantly. O’s, and his administration’s, contempt for people and for democracy, infect and saturate everything he is doing. Everything he has ever done.